"The old formats are dead! Long live the old formats!"

We have been awaiting the death of movies, film, flickers, the studios, for decades now, but looking at the boxoffice figures for 2009 we can see that it was yet another stellar year for the industry. The thing that continues to change is not the appetite of the movie going audience but how they "see" film, how they view movies not only in the theaters but at home as well. The 2009 holiday shopping season saw the rise, not only in the number of advertisments but in sheer tonnage moved out the door, of Blu-ray high definition movie players and large flatscreen tvs, showing once again that if you make quality goods affordable to the middle class, technology, and peoples tastes, will change.

I am happy, once again, for the change. I like to stay a trend or two behind the bulk of humanity. I like to catch up after the parade has passed and reap the benefits of the discard pile. Right now is a grand time to be a film collector. VHS tapes for fifty cents a throw, pawn shop DVD's going for little more than a buck, second hand hi-fi players for under ten dollars and used dvd players for less than the price of a movie ticket.


For the time being I am not too worried about the imminent demise of Hollywood Video or Blockbuster rental stores. I am not struggling with the high cost of retail films or outrageous ticket prices at the door. I have my own "movies on demand" system going on at home 24/7 and have hundreds of movie titles to choose from. Let it rain, let it pour. The Futon Cinema is always ready to screen something new or old, and baby, if I haven't watched it before, it's all new to me.

Action!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Telegraph Hill Blues


Thanks Wikipedia! I just finished watching Peckinpah's Killer Elite and started jotting down titles of films that I could remember being shot in San Francisco. Gave up after ten or so. Needed a bit of help, a bit of filler. Got more that I bargained for, and not just movies with car chases in them, either! Studio classics, sci-fi, screwball comedies, CGI explosion filled fests, film noir, you name it, San Francisco has been the back drop for it all! So here you go, film fans, a wide assortment of movies that take place in San Francisco:

10.5 (2004)
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
48 Hrs. (1982)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Arachnophobia (1990)
Another 48 Hrs. (1990)
The Bachelor (1999)
Barbary Coast (1935)
Basic Instinct (1992)
Bedazzled (2000)
The Birds (1963)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Born to Kill (1947)
Boys and Girls (2000)
Bullitt (1968)
Burglar (1987)
Cherish (2002)
The Conversation (1974)
Copycat (1995)
The Core (2003)
D.O.A. (1950)
Dark Passage (1947)
The Darwin Awards (2006)
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
The Dead Pool (1988)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Dogfight (1991)
Dopamine (2003)
Double Harness (1933)
Double Jeopardy (1996)
Dr. Dolittle (1998)
Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)
EDtv (1999)
The Enforcer (1976)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Experiment in Terror (1962)
Family Guy Presents: Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005)
The Fan (1996)
Fearless (1993)
Foul Play (1978)
Four Christmases (2008)
Freebie and the Bean (1974)
Funny People (2009)
The Game (1997)
A Gathering of Eagles (1963)
George of the Jungle (1997)
Golden Gate (1994)
Good Neighbor Sam (1964)
Greed (1924)
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Haiku Tunnel (2001)
Hardcore (1979, concluding scene)
Heart and Souls (1993)
High Crimes (2002)
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996)
The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)
How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
Hulk (2003)
I Married a Communist (1949)
I Remember Mama (1948)
The Impatient Years (1944)
Innerspace (1987)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
The Joy Luck Club (1993)
Just Like Heaven (2005)
Jagged Edge (1985)
Killer Elite (1975)
Kuffs (1992)
The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
The Laughing Policeman (1973)
Magnum Force (1973)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Metro (1997)
Milk (2008)
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
Mother (1996)
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
The Net (1995)
Nine Months (1995)
North Beach (2000)
Old San Francisco (1926)
The Other Sister (1999)
Out of the Past (1947)
Pal Joey (1957)
Pacific Heights (1990)
Play It Again, Sam (1972)
The Presidio (1988)
The Princess Diaries (2001)
Psych-Out (1968)
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Quicksilver (1986)
Race Street (1948)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Romeo Must Die (2000)
The Rock (1996)
The Room (2003)
San Francisco (1936)
Serendipity (2001)
Sister Act (1992)
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)
The Sisters (1938)
Skidoo (1968)
Sneakers (1992)
So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)
Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Sucker Free City (2004)
Sudden Fear (1952)
Sudden Impact (1983)
Sweet November (2001)
Terminator Salvation (2009)
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
Thieves' Highway (1949)
Time After Time (1979)
The Time of Your Life (1948)
The Towering Inferno (1974)
Twisted (2004)
Vertigo (1958)
A View to a Kill (1985)
The Wedding Planner (2001)
What's Up, Doc? (1972)
The Woman in Red (1984)
Woman on the Run (1950)
Woman on Top (2000)
War (2008)
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)
Zodiac (2007)
[edit] Documentary
The Bridge (2006)
Crumb (1994)
Jonestown (2006)
Thoth (2001)
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (2005)
Fog City Mavericks (2007)
Map of selected film sites, San Francisco:
San Francisco's Film Noir Festival, Noir City:

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